A lawsuit towards Prince Andrew introduced by Virginia Giuffre, a girl who claimed he raped her when she was a teen, will probably be allowed to proceed after a federal choose in Manhattan denied Andrew’s request to dismiss the swimsuit.
Andrew, 61, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II and a good friend of the financier and convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein, argued in court docket papers that he had been launched from legal responsibility in future lawsuits beneath the phrases of a settlement Ms. Giuffre reached with Mr. Epstein in 2009 in a unique lawsuit, in Florida.
Mr. Epstein, 66, was discovered hanged in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 whereas awaiting a sex-trafficking trial. His loss of life was dominated a suicide.
Within the Florida case, Mr. Epstein paid Ms. Giuffre $500,000 to settle a lawsuit by which she had accused Mr. Epstein of sexually abusing her when she was a teen, in response to the settlement settlement, which was unsealed this month.
Underneath the phrases of the settlement, Ms. Giuffre had launched Mr. Epstein and different “potential defendants” from additional litigation, a class that legal professionals for Prince Andrew mentioned included him.
In rejecting Andrew’s argument and permitting Ms. Giuffre’s lawsuit to proceed, the choose, Lewis A. Kaplan of Federal District Court docket, didn’t tackle the deserves of Ms. Giuffre’s claims.
Andrew, who has denied Ms. Giuffre’s allegations, has not been charged with any crimes. His identify surfaced intermittently in testimony on the latest sex-trafficking trial in Manhattan of Ghislaine Maxwell, Mr. Epstein’s longtime companion, who was convicted of 5 of the six counts towards her. Witnesses testified that Andrew was a good friend of Ms. Maxwell and had flown on a few of Mr. Epstein’s planes.
Underneath an agreed-upon scheduling order within the lawsuit, legal professionals for Ms. Giuffre and Andrew should full authorized discovery — the trade of paperwork and the taking of depositions of consultants — by July 14.
Choose Kaplan’s ruling, which was made public on Wednesday, comes because the Queen prepares to mark 70 years on the throne in February, and seems to guarantee that the lawsuit and any probably damaging disclosures might proceed to forged a shadow over the royal household.
A lawyer for Andrew, the Duke of York, didn’t reply to a request for remark. Buckingham Palace declined to touch upon the ruling.
Ms. Giuffre’s lawyer, David Boies, mentioned his consumer was happy that Andrew’s movement to dismiss had been denied, “and that proof will now be taken regarding her claims towards him.”
“She seems to be ahead to a judicial willpower of the deserves of these claims,” Mr. Boies mentioned.
In her swimsuit, filed in August, Ms. Giuffre claimed that Andrew sexually abused her when she was youthful than 18 at Mr. Epstein’s mansion in Manhattan and on his non-public island, Little St. James, within the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Andrew, together with Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell, additionally compelled her to have sexual activity with Andrew towards her will at Ms. Maxwell’s residence in London, the lawsuit mentioned.
The lawsuit mentioned Ms. Giuffre was compelled by Mr. Epstein, Ms. Maxwell and Andrew to interact in sexual acts with Andrew, and that she feared repercussions if she disobeyed due to “their highly effective connections, wealth and authority.”
Mark Landler contributed reporting from London.